1. Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an image forming apparatus configured to read an image of a document and capable of forming the read image on a sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a multiple-function image forming apparatus capable of realizing both image formation on a sheet and document image reading, there has been known an image forming apparatus equipped with an auto document feeder (hereinafter referred to as the “ADF”) capable of flow reading of documents. Generally, in such an image forming apparatus, the ADF configured to perform document image reading processing is arranged in the upper portion of an image forming apparatus main body configured to perform image forming processing on sheets.
Generally, when forming images on both sides of a sheet (hereinafter referred to as “two-sided printing,” the image forming apparatus switches back the sheet after the completion of image formation on the first surface, and re-conveys the switched-back sheet to the image forming unit. For this purpose, such an image forming apparatus is equipped with a reverse conveyance path for re-convey the switched-back sheet to the image forming unit.
Here, generally, taking into account the conveyance performance for firm thick paper (a sheet of high rigidity), the reverse conveyance path is partially equipped with a conveyance portion with a large radius of curvature (hereinafter referred to as the “U-turn portion”). The same thing applies to the ADF from the viewpoint of conveyance for thick paper. In this way, the conventional multi-function image forming apparatus is individually provided with two U-turn portions, one for the sheet and the other for the document, resulting in an increase in the size of the apparatus itself.
To solve this problem, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus in which the image reading unit is arranged in the reverse conveyance path for the sheet and in which the document is fed to the reverse conveyance path from the manual sheet feeding unit to convey the document in a direction opposite the sheet conveyance direction, thereby making it possible to execute the image reading process (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-114479).
In the image forming apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-114479, however, the position where the user sets the document and the position where the document whose image has been read is discharged are positioned apart from each other, resulting in poor usability in terms of the handling of the document.